Making Envelopes

I was asked how to make envelopes, so, since that's the one thing I do really well, I was happy to share.

It helps to understand what an envelope is: just a sheet of paper wrapped around something. The ends need to meet and overlap so they can be secured together. It's basically wrapping paper. The simplest envelopes are merely squarish flaps at the top and bottom, with narrow little flaps folding in on the sides. In some really cheap envelopes, the side flaps are even left out - some cheap Valentine's Day cards just glue the sides of the envelope together without bothering to have side flaps.

As the flaps are tapered more and more to form a shape closer and closer to a triangle, the sides need to be wider to compensate. You can see that in the diagrams below. Generally, you can tell whether your envelope will need to have squared flaps or triangular ones by placing the item you want to wrap on the paper you're going to cut the envelope out of, and seeing how much room you have for side flaps. How much width is available for side flaps will determine how much you can taper the top and bottom flaps of the envelope. I like flaps that are almost perfect triangles like a Hallmark card envelope.

Even an envelope with squared flaps can look really nice if the bottom flap covers two-thirds of the body of the envelope or more and the top flap covers almost half. A generous top flap makes all the difference. The ratio where the lines meet can make the envelope pleasing or awkward - I imagine it has to do with composition, like the rule of thirds in photography.

If you can design the envelope so that it's placed squarely on an 8 1/2 x 11" sheet of paper rather than diagonal, you can run the paper through your computer printer first and print a return address label in the proper place before cutting them out (I do this routinely).

I guess you could print designs on them, too. Or, if you have a paper cutter or scissors to cut patterns, you can make the top flap really pretty. I've never done that; for me, the challenge and satisfaction is in finding the perfect ratio of height/width, and flap size.

Instructions for making your own envelopes are divided into multiple blog posts.

Getting Started
Making the Template, part 1 and part 2
Cutting them out
The Final Steps: gluing and folding them






Note that, as the top and bottom taper in more and more, you'll need more side to cover the contents. Keeping that in mind will help as you consider the design of your envelope.